My experience is old can be just as good as new. I have two modern albeit Chinese tube amps, one of the Chinese amps is just OK, the other one is poor, experimenting on that one. I also have a 1961 Frank pram 30 integrated, I wouldn’t swap that for anything, it just sounds right in my setup. I have another 1960s integrated tube amp which again is just OK. To my mind there are too many variables to just compare old v new. As has been mentioned, try and get some home demos, what sounds good in the store, may not when in your home.
Is it worth replacing an old amp?
Let me first apologize if this question has been asked before, I sure it has. I have an old 5.1 setup, Linn AV 5140 and 5120 speakers along with an old Yamaha DSP-A1 amp. The newest equipment I have is an OPPO 205. All my music is digital, where the vast majority being Hi-Res flac and dsf. The question I have is, would I get a noticeable increase in audio quality if I was to replace the old DSP-A1 with lets say a used Mcintosh MC205 or comparable?